New Expo Line

As I drove into work this summer (sorry driving was my only option), I would always find myself glancing at the construction workers building the new light rail.  With so much controversy and hype built up around the new Exposition line, outlined by a USC staff writer, finally there was something concrete to show for it.  At first I was upset with all of the construction, since the streets that I use to get home were always closed or obstructed making my commute even longer after I had worked all day.  But overtime I adapted to the construction process and changed my regular path as I wondered where the rail line ended up.  It is odd to think that at USC people only talked about how the rail line was going to affect our campus and never mentioned what other areas the line traveled through or the major destinations that it was constructed to reach.  To be honest, this is part of the reason why I chose the Expo line for a blogging topic, so that I could learn more about it. 

You would think that once the tracks are laid down and the wires have been strung that a rail car would come flying down Exposition, but I have yet to see this happen.  The tracks are isolated from everything around them as they are surrounded by fences and not a single sole has been seen on them for weeks.  They must be working on other parts of the track.   For every football game, USC fans had to travel over the red carpet that covered the tracks, so that no one would get injured.  It makes no sense why the tracks were laid down in this area and have been lying vacant for months to only be crossed by people on Game Day.  Wouldn’t it have made more sense to construct this part of the route at a later time period as to not interfere with the thousands of people?  Maybe this was a test to see what traffic congestion would be like with the new train in place. 

Regardless the case, it was hilarious to watch the police trying to control the drunken crowd and yelling at people to not cross until they had the right-of-way, even though the street was closed to through traffic.  People would sneak past the cops and run across the street completely ignoring their demands just to get to their seats in the Coliseum a few minutes earlier. These actions may seem silly now, but someone is bound to get hurt in the near future.  I predict that one of these days, a student is going to attempt to run across the tracks thinking that they can make it before the train swishes by, and do to their impaired judgment get hit by the train.  This is one of the reasons why President Sample pushed so hard to have the train below ground or moved to Martin Luther King Blvd instead.  Eventually, someone is going to get hurt or die and then the city will reconsider their decision and realize that maybe this was not the best idea.  Just by walking through campus on Game Day you will understand what I am talking about and the potential risks. 

Expo Park/USC Station provided by the official Expo website

In my recent research paper, USC students admitted that they would utilize the Expo Line once the construction was completed.  Out of the 72% of students that have used the Los Public Transportation System, 68% are planning on riding the Expo.  45% of the remaining 28% of student who have never ridden the public transit system did agree to ride the Expo train, which is a huge improvement and the signs of a good trend of increased ridership.  Of course, the car still trumps all other forms of transportation because everyone feels it is more convenient and reliant.  It will soon be revealed if students really ride the Expo line or if this project is another drain on Los Angeles. 

So I went to a transit expert at USC and learned that she is worried about the Expo line being a light rail train instead of a heavy rail train, which will probably be needed in the future do to increases in population.  Once light rail tracks are laid, you can’t just go and rip them out, so regardless this decision is permanent.  To put the train below ground would probably have cost 10 times the amount of putting it at grade.  No matter what none of the options are perfect because in this case you can’t go below ground or above ground.  Bus rapid transit would also increase congestion and increase the problem of increased wait times due to traffic, since Los Angeles does not have designated bus, which is ridiculous and another topic for another day.  I guess the light rail will have to do and hopefully will be up and running shortly, but I remember reading somewhere that it might take another year. 

Anyway, what is up with the blue décor at the stops?  Don’t people know this is USC!  As one of my professors pointed out, whoever designed the train stops must have been from UCLA!  The bruins strike again!